TAFT 

Anti  :§  Sennitis** 

in  th  e 

United  States 


3>SI4r 

J\Z 


Anti-Semitism  in  the 
United  States 


BY 


✓ 

WILLIAM  HOWARD  TAFT 

Ex-President  of  the  U.  S. 


Ill 


ANTI-DEFAMATION  LEAGUE 

812  TRIBUNE  BLDG.  CHICAGO,  ILLINOIS 


Address  delivered  in  Chicago 
December  23,  IQ20,  at  invitation  of 
Anti-Defamation  League 


Anti-Semitism  in  the  United  States 

ONE  of  the  chief  causes  of  suffering  and  evil  in  the 
world  today  is  race  hatred,  and  any  man  who  stimulates 
that  hatred  has  much  to  answer  for.  When  he  does  this  by 
the  circulation  of  unfounded  and  unjust  charges  and  the 
arousing  of  mean  and  groundless  fears,  his  fault  is  more  to 
be  condemned. 

Since  the  Christian  era,  the  Jews  have  greatly  suffered 
from  racial  antipathies.  Their  history  has  been  one  long 
story  of  persecution,  oppression  and  cruelty  directed  against 
them  on  account  of  their  race.  Sometimes  the  bitterness 
has  been  distinctly  and  purely  religious,  but  more  often  it 
has  been  racial.  Liberal  Americans  who  appreciate  the  lib¬ 
erty  and  equality  of  opportunity  that  prevails  in  our  civiliza¬ 
tion,  and  under  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States,  have 
prided  themselves  that  here  at  least  there  is  no  ban  against 
the  Jews,  there  is  no  Ghetto,  there  is  no  pale  within  which 
they  are  required  to  live,  there  is  not  the  slightest  attempt 
in  the  law  to  differentiate  between  Jews  and  other  residents 
of  the  United  States,  and  all  the  privileges  and  all  the 
equality  of  opportunity  of  any  citizen  are  theirs.  That  at 
times  social  prejudice  is  encountered  by  them  is  to  be  ex¬ 
pected  in  a  country  with  as  many  different  currents  in 
.society  as  our  great  amalgamation  has;  but  in  no  country 
in  the  world  does  the  Jew  enjoy  more  perfect  equality  of 
opportunity,  more  certain  reward  for  the  many  virtues  that 
he  has,  or  greater  and  more  unquestioned  liberty  than  here. 
Nor  is  this  equality  of  treatment  confined  to  the  law  alone. 
Neither  in  business  nor  in  professional  circles  is  there  any 
factional  effort  to  hamper  or  obstruct  his  progress  and  suc¬ 
cess.  This  has  been  in  great  contrast  to  his  actual  status  in 
some  European  countries,  where  while  he  is  theoretically 
equal  to  others  before  the  law,  there  are  constant  organized 
efforts  to  limit  his  activities,  and  to  prevent  his  progress.  In 


3 


such  countries  there  is  a  distinctly  anti-Semitic  party,  which 
breaks  forth  in  an  attack  upon  the  Jews  and  uses  the  press 
and  other  publications  to  foster  a  hatred  and  obstruction  to 
their  pursuit  of  their  legitimate  aims. 

Only  recently  has  there  appeared  in  this  country  an  elabo¬ 
rate  attack  upon  the  Jews  and  a  studied  effort  to  create  an 
anti-Semitic  feeling  and  movement  in  the  United  States. 
This  is  greatly  to  be  deplored.  When  I  first  heard  of  it,  I 
was  inclined  to  think  the  wise  course  was  to  ignore  it,  and 
that  in  a  short  time  it  would  die,  for  lack  of  interest  and 
support.  I  thought  that  answer  and  refutation  would  dig¬ 
nify  it,  advertise  it  and  serve  the  purpose  of  its  projector, 
and  I  am  not  sure  that  this  is  not  still  the  correct  view.  But 
you  who  know  better  have  come  to  the  conclusion  that  the 
matter  is  of  sufficiently  serious  import  to  call  for  discussion 
and  answer.  I  feel  strongly  the  evil  character  of  the  attack, 
and  I  do  not  hesitate  to  condemn  it  and  give  my  reasons  for 
so  doing. 

THE  attack  is  made  in  a  series  of  articles  in  the  Dear¬ 
born  Independent.  This  is  the  paper  which  Mr.  Henry 
Ford,  the  successful  manufacturer  of  the  Ford  automobile, 
has  founded  for  the  avowed  purpose  of  expressing  his  views 
without  fear  or  favor.  With  the  statement  that  the  press 
is  held  in  subjection  by  the  power  of  the  Jews,  the  author 
of  the  articles  seeks  to  put  Mr.  Ford  on  a  pedestal  of  cour¬ 
age  and  independence  in  initiating  the  attack.  How  much 
of  the  article  is  due  to  Mr.  Ford’s  initiative,  and  how  much 
he  has  yielded  to  the  representations  of  others  in  consenting 
to  its  publication,  one  cannot  say.  But,  of  course,  he  is 
responsible  for  the  effect  of  them.  I  have  read  the  articles 
and  the  documents  called  the  Protocols,  upon  which  they 
purport  to  be  based,  and  after  an  analysis  of  them,  I  find 
it  difficult  to  discuss  them  with  patience. 

The  articles  are  written  in  an  easy  flowing  style  and  are 
deftly  composed  of  a  mixture  of  historical  fact  and  un¬ 
founded  and  unjust  generalizations.  At  times  in  them  is  a 
pretense  of  fairness  and  generous  concessions  to  the  Jews, 


4 


with  a  constant  repetition  running  through  them  of  the 
meanest  incitements  to  prejudice  against  the  whole  race. 
The  writer  professes  not  to  be  engaged  in  stirring  up  an 
anti-Semitic  feeling  when  what  he  writes  reeks  with  it.  All 
that  he  says  is  directed  to  sustaining  a  definite  indictment 
of  conspiracy  in  which  he  ultimately  involves  the  whole  Jew¬ 
ish  race.  He  acquits  most  of  them  of  guilty  knowledge  of 
the  ultimate  design  at  present,  but  he  represents  their  ambi¬ 
tions,  their  abilities  and  skill,  their  unity  and  power  and 
their  other  characteristics,  to  be  such  that  when  those  now 
privy  to  the  chief  and  ultimate  purpose  shall  disclose  it,  all 
will  conform  to  it  and  become  willing  participants  in  the 
grand  and  wicked  design. 

When  we  analyze  the  attack,  when  we  consider  the 
charges  free  from  the  interweaving  of  mere  appeals  to 
prejudice,  when  we  look  into  the  accusing  generalizations 
without  supporting  evidence,  when  we  dissect  the  historical 
facts  out  of  the  mass  of  gratuitous  assumptions,  and  limit 
those  facts  to  their  true  and  fair  significance,  when  we  look 
into  the  only  documentary  proof  relied  on,  when  we  consider 
the  naked  skeleton  of  the  indictment  and  contemplate  the 
conditions  it  foreshadows  as  a  possible  and  probable  his¬ 
torical  development,  it  becomes  a  presentment  utterly  un¬ 
worthy  of  credence. 

WHAT  is  the  charge ?  It  is  that  there  is  an  inner  coun¬ 
cil  of  a  few'  leading  Jews  in  the  world,  who  control 
the  money  of  the  world,  engaged  in  a  plot,  the  execution  of 
which  may  take  decades  or  a  century  for  its  consummation 
to  destroy  the  governments  of  the  world  by  the  disintegrat¬ 
ing  power  of  Bolshevism  which  they  are  fostering,  and  then 
by  the  all-controlling  power  of  the  purse  and  the  playing  of 
one  class  against  another,  ultimately  to  subject  to  the  will 
of  this  inner  Judaic  council  the  wrhole  world,  enabling  it  to 
appoint  a  King  of  Israel  who  shall  then,  as  an  absolute  dic¬ 
tator,  carry  on  the  -world  under  his  super-government.  The 
purpose  of  the  articles  is  to  give  proof  of  the  truth  of 
these  charges  and  to  arouse  the  American  people  to  this 


5 


imminent  danger.  This,  the  articles  announce  to  be  the 
Jewish  Question  which  they  are  to  force  to  discussion  in 
the  United  States.  No  remedy  for  this  conspiracy  is  pro¬ 
posed  of  a  legal  character,  no  organization  is  suggested,  no 
definite  plan  of  resistance  to  the  march  of  this  plot,  but  it  is 
intimated  that  if  the  American  people  have  proper  warn¬ 
ings  through  these  and  other  articles  of  the  same  tenor,  this 
Jewish  political  conquest  of  the  world  and  the  governmental 
absolutism  of  Israel  may  be  averted. 

As  already  said,  the  author  of  the  articles  is  not  so  fool¬ 
ish  as  to  charge  that  all  Jews,  or  even  those  of  intelligence, 
wealth  and  standing,  are  privy  to  this  great  plot  and  its 
purpose.  What  he  first  sets  out  to  do  is  to  establish  the 
present  enormous  power  of  the  Jews  over  the  finance  of 
the  world,  and  their  ability  through  the  bond  of  interna¬ 
tional  unity  between  them  to  control  the  policies  of  nations, 
to  compel  war  or  peace,  to  direct  the  working  of  economic 
forces  in  them,  and,  if  need  be,  to  form  and  stimulate 
anarchy  and  a  destruction  of  government.  His  argument 
then  is  that  the  small  council  or  sanhedrin  of  the  Inner  Cir¬ 
cle  of  International  Jews  can  and  will  disclose  their  ultimate 
political  purpose  at  the  appropriate  time,  and  through  the 
essential  unity  of  the  Jewish  Race  and  its  will  to  power,  it 
can  command  allegiance  of  all  Jews,  and  especially  those 
who  have  these  great  powers  and  thus  carry  on  the  con¬ 
spiracy  to  the  declared  end. 

The  author  rejects  as  having  any  real  effect  the  economic 
laws  which  the  history  of  nations  has  developed  into  a  sci¬ 
ence.  Adam  Smith,  John  Stewart  Mill,  Ricardo,  Sumner 
and  other  great  names  in  the  field  of  political  economy  and 
finance,  have  no  terrors  for  him.  He  says,  “People  have 
lost  all  confidence  that  economic  conditions  are  responsible 
for  all  the  changes  that  occur.  Under  the  camouflage  of 
‘economic  law’  a  great  many  phenomena  have  been  ac¬ 
counted  for  which  were  not  due  to  any  law  whatever  except 
the  law  of  selfish  human  will  as  operated  by  a  few  men,  who 
have  the  purpose  and  the  power  to  work  on  a  wide  scale 
with  nations  as  their  vassals.” 


6 


Again  he  says,  “Apparently  in  the  world  today  is  a  central 
financial  force  playing  a  vast  and  closely  organized  game 
with  the  world  for  its  table  and  universal  control  for  its 
stakes.”  He  says  that  “The  great  masters,  the  few  who  see 
clearly  the  entire  play  of  the  plan,  control  numerous  banking 
houses  and  trust  companies,”  that  one  is  used  for  this  and 
another  for  that,  that  there  is  no  disharmony  and  no  com¬ 
petition,  but  that  there  is  as  much  unity  between  the  princi¬ 
pal  banking  houses  of  every  country  as  there  is  between  the 
various  branches  of  the  United  States  Post  Office,  and  for 
the  same  reason,  namely,  they  are  all  operated  from  the 
same  source  and  for  the  same  purpose.  He  charges  this 
central  financial  force  in  its  heartlessness  of  capital  with 
breaking  up  proper  relationship  between  employers  and 
employees  by  refusing  to  allow  the  former  to  make  just 
concession  to  the  latter.  He  repeats  and  adopts  the  charge 
made  in  Germany  that  this  central  financial  force  controls 
governments,  can  make  war,  .can  make  peace,  can  command 
anarchy,  can  restore  order,  that  it  holds  the  sinews  of  world 
power  in  its  hand  and  apportions  them  among  the  nations 
in  such  a  way  as  will  best  support  its  plans. 

No  instances  of  the  exercise  of  this  world  controlling 
power  is  cited  as  proof.  The  conclusion  of  the  author  rests 
on  his  own  assertion  and  the  further  comprehensive  and 
entirely  satisfying  assurance  that  everybody  knows  it.  One 
might  have  made  such  an  unsustained  generalization  with 
some  hope  of  securing  the  credence  of  gullible  people  before 
this  great  war  but  he  is  bold  indeed  who  ventures  it  now. 
Was  it  the  International  Bankers  and  capitalists  that  brought 
on  Germany’s  declaration  of  war?  Was  it  the  International 
Bankers  and  capitalists  that  drove  Great  Britain  to  the  de¬ 
fense  of  Belgium?  Was  it  these  world  controllers  that  led 
Italy  into  the  struggle?  What  had  they  to  do  with  Aus¬ 
tria’s  ultimatum  to  Servia?  What  influence  had  they  in  the 
action  of  the  Tsar  in  defense  of  Servia  ?  Does  the  author 
of  the  articles  intend  us  to  believe  that  these  International 
Bankers  agreed  upon  the  war,  and  with  a  common  purpose 
of  control  directed  one  Nation  against  another,  and  all 


7 


through  their  power  over  National  credits?  Could  absurd¬ 
ity  reach  a  greater  height  ?  What  could  these  bankers  prom¬ 
ise  to  any  one  of  these  powers  in  the  matter  of  their  loans? 
Their  bonds  must  be  taken  primarily  by  their  own  people 
and  without  this  source  they  could  not  finance  their  wars. 
The  amount  of  foreign  loans  negotiated  through  interna¬ 
tional  bankers  in  this  war  was  insignificant  in  the  beginning 
and  was  nothing  in  the  end.  When  one  thinks  of  the  mighty 
forces  of  national,  race  and  dynastic  origin  and  ambition 
that  brought  on  this  great  calaclysm,  he  may  well  laugh 
at  the  suggestion  that  behind  them  all  was  this  scheming 
circle  of  International  Bankers.  Yet  all  this  is  one  of  the 
necessary  premises  of  the  conclusion  which  the  author  seeks 
to  establish. 

THE  minor  premise  of  the  writer  of  these  articles  is 
that  the  small  group  of  International  Bankers  and 
capitalists  who  control  the  economic  destinies  and  political 
fate  of  the  world  are  Jews.  He  ventures  back  in  the  his¬ 
tory  of  that  remarkable  race  to  show  how  this  power  de¬ 
veloped  in  their  hands  and  here  he  uses  a  modicum  of 
fact.  It  is  true  that  the  cruel  limitations  put  upon  the 
activities  of  the  Jews  in  the  eighteen  centuries  of  perse¬ 
cution  forced  them  out  of  production  on  the  land  into 
trade  and  commerce  and  exchange.  The  very  dispersion 
to  which  they  were  subjected,  and  the  inhospitable  recep¬ 
tion  they  were  accorded  everywhere  kept  them  in  deep  sym¬ 
pathy  with  one  another  and  made  world  trade  between 
them  natural  and  easy,  and  the  world  hardly  knows  the 
debt  it  owes  to  them  for  this  incalculable  benefit.  Ordi¬ 
nary  precaution  against  the  robbery  and  blackmail  to  which 
they  were  constantly  subjected  led  them  to  deal  not  in  lands 
which  they  could  not  hold,  but  in  articles  of  value  and 
small  in  bulk.  This  made  them  custodians  of  gold  and 
so  bankers.  With  the  keen  intellects  there  were  among 
them,  and  the  genius  of  patience  and  application,  the  sci¬ 
ence  of  trade  and  banking  grew  under  their  hands  and  it 
is  true,  as  the  author  says,  there  were  in  Medieval  times 


r 


8 


Monarchs  who  depended  much  on  Jewish  bankers  to  aid 
them  in  their  loans.  To  say  that  even  then  they  controlled 
Kings  is  a  figure  of  speech  and  not  a  fact.  And  now  the 
Jews  do  not  control  all  international  banking  houses.  The 
Gentiles  are  equally  active.  There  is  competition  between 
Jewish  houses.  The  transfer  of  gold  or  its  equivalent 
from  one  Nation  to  another  is  not  the  result  of  the  will 
of  one  banker  or  another.  It  is  the  calculation  of  profit 
on  the  particular  transaction  that  prompts  it  and  the  profit 
depends  on  the  extent  of  the  demand  for  it  in  one  country 
as  compared  with  that  in  another.  The  difference  in  the 
demand  for  gold  in  one  country  and  that  in  another  is  due 
to  the  internal  business  conditions  in  each  country  as  com¬ 
pared  with  those  in  another.  The  money  or  gold  in  the 
currents  of  exchange  does  not  represent  a  tithe  of  the  cap¬ 
ital  and  wealth  in  use  in  each  country.  The  wealth  of  the 
country  is  not  in  its  money,  or  its  gold;  it  is  in  its  farms, 
its  factories,  its  mines,  and  the  products  it  is  capable  of 
bringing  to  market  and  sale.  All  the  gold  in  the  world  is 
but  a  small  fraction  of  the  wealth  of  the  world,  and  a  very 
large  part  of  that  is  not  in  the  hands  of  International  Bank¬ 
ers,  but  is  in  the  treasuries  of  Governments  or  under  their 
control.  Never  so  little  as  now  would  arbitrary  control  of 
International  exchanges,  even  if  it  could  exist,  as  it  does 
not,  carry  with  it  the  control  of  the  business  and  political 
affairs  of  the  world.  Was  it  international  bankers  who  have 
sent  the  British  pound  sterling  to  a  discount  of  33  1/3  as 
compared  with  our  dollar?  Was  it  international  bankers 
who  have  sent  the  German  mark  from  a  par  of  25  cents 
to  an  exchange  value  of  a  cent  and  a  half?  Was  it  not 
economic  law  which  brought  this  about?  Resistance  by 
any  banker  or  set  of  bankers,  however  powerful,  to  such 
an  inevitable  result  of  economic,  conditions  would  break 
them. 

THE  writer  of  these  articles  further  seeks  to  bolster 
his  premise  that  Jews  are  the  world  controllers  of 
finance  and  so  of  politics,  by  describing  their  business  suc- 


9 


cesses  in  the  United  States.  That  the  Jews  are  successful 
merchants  and  bankers  is  of  course  true.  That  they  are 
keen  in  business  with  excellent  judgment,  and  with  never 
ending  patience  and  application,  everyone  knows.  In  pro¬ 
portion  to  their  number,  their  business  success  is  note¬ 
worthy.  The  same  is  true  of  them  in  the  professions  and 
in  every  field  into  which  their  tastes  and  adaptability  may 
take  them.  That  they  are  friendly  to  one  another  in  busi¬ 
ness  as  in  other  relations  is  also  true,  and  why  should 
they  not  be?  The  bond  of  a  common  suffering  in  their 
history,  and  an  ever  threatening  hostile  prejudice  is  likely 
to  produce  such  a  feeling.  But  it  is  not  true  that  they  do 
not  compete  with  each  other.  They  are  too  much  business 
men  for  this.  It  is  said  they  are  ambitious  and  have  the 
will  to  power  and  that  this  has  led  them  to  be  prime  movers 
in  the  great  trusts  of  the  country.  This  is  not  true.  There 
are  Jews  in  the  trusts,  as  are  other  keen  business  men,  but 
it  will  be  found  that  those  who  led  the  way  were  Gen¬ 
tiles.  There  are  branches  of  business  in  which  they  are 
numerous  and  influential,  and  the  history  of  these  would 
disclose  what  has  often  been  the  purely  arbitrary  circum¬ 
stances  which  attracted  them.  They  are  prominent  in  the 
business  of  the  theater,  the  opera,  and  music  generally.  So 
they  should  be.  They  are  artistic,  they  are  histrionic,  they 
are  naturally  lovers  of  music.  But  for  the  patronage  and 
support  of  the  Jews  we  should  not  be  able  to  have  the  the¬ 
ater,  the  opera,  or  the  symphony  concerts.  But  what  of 
all  this  in  the  matter  of  world  control? 

In  the  effort  of  the  author  to  connect  the  Jews  with  the 
management  of  Trusts  and  the  control  of  broad  fields  of 
business  he  gives  no  names ;  he  only  makes  assertions  and 
as  if  to  anticipate  a  demonstration  that  Gentiles  control  the 
industry  by  reference  to  the  names  of  directors,  he  makes 
reply  that  it  is  a  common  thing  for  Jews  to  use  Gentiles 
in  the  management  of  their  business  to  present  a  “Gentile 
front,”  as  he  calls  it.  He  is  thus  determined  to  put  the 
Jew  in  control  whether  he  seems  to  be  there  or  not.  The 
assertion  that  the  Jew,  with  his  will  to  power  and  the  love 


10 


of  displaying  it,  which  he  attributes  to  him,  should  hide  his 
light  under  a  bushel  in  this  way  is  only  one  of  constant 
inconsistencies  with  which  the  earnest,  careful  reader  is 
confronted  in  this  tissue  of  broad  and  upsupported  gen¬ 
eralizations. 

# 

The  author  of  these  articles  refers  to  the  facts  that  the 
Jews  in  this  country  have  increased  in  number  within  the 
last  forty  years  from  less  than  500,000  to  now  2,500,000  or 
3,000,000.  That  this  presents  some  question  by  reason  of 
their  concentrating  in  the  City  of  New  York,  and  their 
indisposition  to  go  to  the  farm  and  to  the  smaller  towns, 
need  not  be  disputed;  but  it  is  also  true  that  they  present 
far  less  difficulty  in  the  matter  of  taking  care  of  them¬ 
selves  and  in  becoming  a  charge  upon  the  community  than 
other  immigrants.  The  fact  is  that  they  were  driven  here 
by  the  outrages  committed  upon  them  in  Russia,  in  Poland 
and  in  Roumania,  and  one  of  the  reasons  why  John  Hay 
urged  that  the  United  States  had  the  right  to  interest  itself 
in  the  treatment  of  these  poor  people  by  those  heartless 
governments  was  that  they  drove  them  to  the  United  States 
as  a  refuge  and  increased  the  burden  of  the  United  States 
in  caring  for  them.  They  are  gradually,  through  the  agency 
of  our  public  schools  and  through  the  equal  opportunity 
that  this  country  offers,  fitting  themselves  to  better  and 
better  citizenship,  and  in  the  small  percentage  they  repre¬ 
sent  of  our  entire  population  they  need  give  no  cause  for 
concern,  such  as  the  author  of  these  articles  would  like 
to  arouse. 

THE  next  basis  for  the  premise  is  that  Jews  control 
the  world  through  the  Press.  What  does  this  mean? 
Does  it  mean  that  the  Jews  own  all  the  newspapers  of 
wide  circulation  and  influence?  The  author  mentions  three 
newspapers  in  Germany  which  are  owned  by  Jews.  Does 
that  control  Europe  or  even  Germany?  He  could  not  men¬ 
tion  many  more  than  that  owned  by  Jews  in  the  United 
States.  What,  then,  does  he  mean?  He  says  that  through 
fear  of  Jewish  power  to  give  and  withhold  advertising,  the 


11 


press  is  muzzled  as  to  the  Jews.  Here  we  come  to  a 
broad  distinction  by  utterly  and  unjustly  ignoring  which, 
the  author  seeks  grossly  to  exaggerate  the  power  and  effort 
of  the  Jews  to  secure  affirmative  control  of  affairs,  by  con¬ 
fusing  it  with  their  power  and  effort  to  protect  their  people 
against  abuse  of  their  rights.  They  naturally  resent  insult 
and  contumely  heaped  upon  Jews  because  they  are  Jews 
and  they  are  fully  justified  in  seeking  in  every  lawful  way 
to  prevent  its  recurrence.  If  by  reason  of  their  power  to 
control  the  distribution  of  their  advertising  or  by  exercise 
of  discretion  in  their  business  patronage  they  can  restrain 
such  outrage  upon  the  feelings  of  their  race  and  the  stim¬ 
ulation  of  prejudice,  they  are  entirely  right  in  using  it. 
It  is  probably  true  that  a  wholesome  fear  of  the  loss  of 
Jewish  patronage  does  prevent  some  of  the  Press  from 
giving  a  vent  to  the  expression  of  race  prejudice  and  stir¬ 
ring  up  anti-Semitism.  If  so,  I  am  glad  of  the  restraint. 
The  same  thing  is  true  in  respect  to  the  venting  of  preju¬ 
dices  against  other  members  of  our  community,  and  it 
should  be  a  source  of  satisfaction  rather  than  complaint. 
But  it  is  said  our  Jews  control  our  politics  by  their  sol¬ 
idarity.  This  is  not  true.  They  are  Republicans  and 
Democrats  and  they  contend  as  vigorously  for  their  respect¬ 
ive  parties  as  other  citizens.  In  a  case  where  a  wrong 
against  Jews  in  any  part  of  the  world  needs  righting,  the 
broad  sympathy  of  the  American  people  can  be  easily 
aroused  and  this  Jews  have  done.  They  it  was  who 
secured  so  wide  a  public  demand  for  the  abrogation  of  the 
Treaty  with  Russia.  They  it  is  with  their  brethren  in 
Europe  who  have  succeeded  in  securing  a  provision  in  the 
Treaty  of  Versailles  prescribing  the  equality  of  right  to 
be  secured  to  Jews  in  Poland.  This  is  cited  by  the  Editor 
of  the  Dearborn  Independent  as  a  vicious  instance  of  Jew¬ 
ish  World  Control.  Why  should  not  these  nations  at  Ver¬ 
sailles  when  they  were  delivering  to  the  Poles  a  freedom 
won  by  the  sacrifice  of  millions  of  lives  and  mountains  of 
treasure,  exact  from  them  a  pledge  that  the  Jews  should  be 
free  from  oppression  and  be  given  an  equal  opportunity  to 


12 


give  their  children  education  and  to  pursue  their  own  liveli¬ 
hood  and  happiness?  Nor  is  the  criticism  such  that  the 
provision  was  humiliating  to  Poland  in  its  specific  provi¬ 
sions  and  in  the  reservation  in  the  Treaty  that  the  Great 
Powers  may  enforce  it.  The  experience  of  the  Congress 
of  Berlin  with  the  solemn  guaranty  of  Roumania  on  this 
subject  and  her  breach  of  faith  are  still  freshly  in  our 
minds.  The  abuses  to  which  the  Jews  had  been  subjected 
in  Poland  gave  good  ground  for  additional  safeguards. 
This  is  not  a  seeking  of  affirmative  control  of  affairs  by 
Jews.  It  is  only  another  instance  of  an  effort  of  the  Jews 
to  protect  those  of  their  own  race  against  further  out¬ 
rageous  persecution ;  and  we  wish  all  civilization  should 
aid  them.  I  cau  not  too  often  refer  to  the  sympathy  which 
one  Jew  has  for  another  in  distress,  especially  when  it 
arises  from  racial  hatred  or  prejudice.  It  is  a  trait  which, 
instead  of  being  made  a  ground  for  attack  upon  the  Jews, 
should  commend  them  highly  to  their  fellow  man.  It  is 
not  inconsistent  with  their  duty  to  their  country;  it  is  not 
inconsistent  with  their  duty  to  their  fellow  man.  The 
author  of  the  articles  continually  refers  to  the  Jewish  ques¬ 
tion.  The  Jewish  question  is  not  one  calling  for  protection 
against  the  Jews  as  the  writer  of  the  Dearborn  Independent 
articles  would  make  it. 

THE  real  and  great  Jewish  question  is  how  more  than 
half  these  Jewish  people  should  be  rescued  from  out¬ 
rage,  massacre  and  all  sorts  of  injustice,  as  well  as  penury 
and  starvation  brought  about  by  government  discrimina¬ 
tion  and  prompted  by  bitter  race  prejudice.  This  question 
has  roused  Jews  the  world  over  and  they  have  nobly 
responded.  It  has  led  to  great  organizations  which  have 
been  unceasing  in  their  efforts  to  aid  their  fellow  Jews  in 
all  of  Middle  and  Eastern  Europe,  where  they  have  suf¬ 
fered  so  much.  It  is  this  which  has  developed  Zionism 
and  while  men  and  Jews  differ  as  to  the  exact  goal  ulti¬ 
mately  to  be  reached  in  this  movement,  all  concur  in  seek¬ 
ing  the  refuge  it  is  hoped  it  will  afford  the  Jews  of  Eastern 


13 


Europe  from  their  present  awful  state.  Yet  it  is  these 
organizations  upon  which  the  author  of  these  articles  would 
base  his  charge  against  the  Jews  of  seeking  world  power. 

If  it  be  true  that  the  international  bankers  and  capital¬ 
ists  are  Jews  alone;  if  it  be  true  that  they  wield  a  world 
power  to  control  governments  and  nations  and  wars  and 
peace  and  economic  law,  can  the  author  of  these  articles 
in  the  Dearborn  Independent  explain  why  it  is  that  now 
more  than  half  the  13,000,000  Jews  in  the  world  are  still 
suffering  not  only  persecution  and  oppression,  but  the  bit¬ 
terest  penury  and  starvation?  Why  is  it  that  if  this  omnip¬ 
otence  belongs  to  the  Jews,  half  of  them  are  in  the  direst 
misery?  One  needs  to  cite  no  specific  facts  to  refute  the 
preposterous  assumptions  of  this  learned  writer  in  the  Dear¬ 
born  Independent  because  the  general  facts  which  refute 
his  every  statement  can  be  seen  by  a  wayfaring  man,  though 
a  fool. 

THE  author  of  the  articles  refers  to  Germany  as  a 
place  where  the  Jewish  question,  so-called,  has  been 
prominent,  and  in  which  the  danger  from  the  Jews  and 
their  activities  has  been  demonstrated.  The  arguments  of 
the  anti-Semitic  party  are,  of  course,  rehearsed,  and  the 
prominence  of  individual  Jews  in  the  government  which 
succeeded  the  Empire  is  pointed  out  and  made  the  basis 
for  the  assumption  that  these  Jews  are  engaged  in  pro¬ 
moting  the  power  of  all  Jews  and  lending  themselves  to 
this  ultimate  Jewish  despotism.  The  author,  of  course, 
does  not  stop  to  note  how  natural  it  is  for  Jews  to  be 
prominent  in  the  new  popular  government  of  Germany. 
The  bitter  anti-Semitism  in  Germany  had  driven  the  great 
body  of  Jews  into  the  opposition  to  the  government,  into 
socialism  of  the  various  phases  of  which  Germany  is  full. 
The  Jew  is  naturally  quick  and  able  and  political  and  his 
leadership  is  accepted  by  the  less  intelligent  and  less  con¬ 
structive  members  of  his  party,  and  therefore  it  is  not  sur¬ 
prising  that  among  the  leaders  of  these  parties  are  Jews. 
They  appear  in  support  of  their  party  as  might  be  expected 


14 


and  show  no  common  Jewish  purpose  but  only  the  individ¬ 
ual  aims  and  natural  leadership  that  acute  intelligence  and 
practical  knowledge  would  give. 

On  the  whole,  therefore,  there  is  nothing  in  the  assertions 
by  the  author  of  these  articles  in  respect  to  the  Jews  that 
contain  any  facts  justifying  an  inference  beyond  the  nat¬ 
ural  and  commendable  desire  of  Jews  to  get  on  in  the 
world,  to  acquire  money  and  comfort  and  education  for 
their  children  and  standing  and  influence  in  the  commu¬ 
nity.  Thus  the  case  of  the  author  of  these  articles  fails 
here.  Even  if  there  were  a  secret  council  of  Jews  plan¬ 
ning  to  use  the  accumulated  influence  and  wealth  and  power 
of  the  Jews  to  conquer  the  world  and  to  establish  an  Israel- 
itish  absolutism  under  a  Jewish  sovereign,  he  has  shown  no 
such  power  in  the  Jews  now  or  in  the  future  which  could 
accomplish  such  a  task,  or  any  likelihood  that  the  Jews 
of  the  civilized  countries  of  the  world  would  for  one 
moment  join  in  such  a  conspiracy. 

But  we  must  go  on  with  the  author  to  his  attempt  to 
establish  the  last  link  in  his  chain  of  charges  in  the  indict¬ 
ment,  and  that  is  the  existence  of  a  secret  council  of  Jews 
who  are  now  deliberately  plotting  to  destroy  the  govern¬ 
ments  of  the  world  by  anarchy  and  bolshevism  and  to  erect 
on  the  world’s  ruins  an  Hebraic  autocracy  by  the  power 
of  the  purse.  He  proposes  to  find  this  in  the  so-called 
protocols  of  the  Wise  Men  of  Zion. 

WHAT  are  these  protocols?  They  purport  to  be  oral 
explanations  of  a  Jew  to  disciples  or  listeners,  of  the 
plot  by  the  inner  wise  men  to  establish  a  Jewish  despotism 
and  absolute  monarchy  under  a  King  of  Israel  over  the 
world.  The  bald  and  shocking  and  brutal  details  of  the 
plan  as  they  are  justified  and  explained  create  on  their 
face  a  serious  doubt  that  anyone  would  avow  them  to  a 
group  of  disciples,  however  depraved  he  or  they  might  be. 
They  are  drawn  without  exculpatory  phrases  and  are  made 
as  bald  and  as  revolting  as  possible  and  are  much  better 
adapted  to  stirring  bitterness  and  indignation  against  the 


15 


author  of  the  protocols  than  they  are  to  the  enlightenment 
and  inspiration  of  disciples  and  followers  whose  cooperation 
he  seeks  to  instruct  and  secure. 

He  begins  with  the  announcement  that  more  men  are 
vicious  and  wicked  than  are  noble  and  that  we  must  make 
that  the  basis  of  our  practical  policy.  He  says  that  hon¬ 
esty  and  fairness  are,  in  view  of  that  policy,  vices,  and  that 
hypocrisy  and  cunning  are  the  only  virtues  which  should 
be  practiced.  He  then  discloses  his  plan.  He  assumes,  as 
does  the  author  of  the  Dearborn  Independent,  that  the  Jews 
have  all  the  money  of  the  world  under  their  control  and 
that  money  enables  them  to  control  nations  and  wars  and 
peace.  He  refutes  the  idea  that  economic  laws  ultimately 
prevail  throughout  the  world  and  assumes,  as  does  the 
editor  of  the  Dearborn  Independent,  that  the  Jews  with 
money  are  able  to  reverse  these  laws  and  create  arbitrary 
results,  as  if  they  were  not  only  absolute  rulers  of  the 
government  but  absolute  controllers  of  demand  and  sup¬ 
ply,  of  prices  and  of  wages.  With  this  absolute  power  over 
everything  that  goes  to  affect  the  comfort  and  happiness 
of  the  world  through  the  Jewish  control  of  money,  he  adds 
the  control  through  other  Jews  of  mobs  and  the  forces  of 
disintegration.  He  asserts  that  they  control  the  press  of 
the  world  and  that  through  the  press  they  are  to  play  upon 
the  feelings  of  the  proletariat  and  to  create  a  wide  antag¬ 
onism  between,  it  and  the  more  intelligent  and  wealthier 
classes,  so  that  society  is  to  be  broken  up  and  the  govern¬ 
ments  of  the  world  under  the  Gentile  rule  are  to  be  weak¬ 
ened  until  they  are  really  overthrown.  This  inner  circle  is 
to  stimulate  proletarian  distinctiveness  by  first  increasing 
wages  of  the  workmen  and  then  increasing  prices.  They 
are  hurrying  the  world  on  to  a  great  war,  and  in  the  war 
territorial  changes  are  not  to  be  affected,  but  the  changes 
are  to  be  financial  only.  After  the  disintegration  of  gov¬ 
ernments  in  which  the  lives  of  many  Jews  are  to  be  sacri¬ 
ficed  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  out  the  plot,  the  ultimate 
object  is  to  be  achieved ;  and  one  of  the  seed  of  King  David 
is  to  be  trained  to  become  the  universal  sovereign  of  the 


16 


world.  The  character  of  the  judges  of  the  Civil  service 
and  of  many  details  of  the  government  under  this  descend¬ 
ant  of  King  David  are  set  out  at  great  length  together  with 
a  plan  of  taxation.  A  police  system  and  a  method  of  main¬ 
taining  absolute  government  without  the  show  of  force  and 
a  system  of  espionage  in  which  one-third  of  the  people  are 
set  to  watch  the  other  two-thirds  are  gravely  described. 

I  have  read  and  reread  these  protocols  and  the  impres¬ 
sion  they  have  made  on  me  is  that  they  are  the  work  of 
one  who  wishes  to  hold  up  to  scorn  and  hatred  and  con¬ 
demnation  the  race  in  whose  behalf  they  purport  to  be 
written.  They  are  drafted  by  one  who  had  watched,  with 
a  cynical  eye,  the  workings  of  popular  government,  and 
who  paints  in  the  most  lurid  colors  the  defects  of  demo¬ 
cracy  when  it  degenerates  into  mob  rule.  The  writer  was 
evidently  a  profound  believer  in  absolutism  and  seeks  here 
to  vindicate  its  useful  possibilities  in  every  sentence,  but 
in  attempting  to  give  a  practical  coloring  to  the  conspiracy, 
for  which  he  is  seeking  to  make  the  Jewish  council  respon¬ 
sible,  his  assumptions  of  the  power  to  do  the  things  he 
describes  in  pursuance  of  the  ultimate  object  are  grotesque 
and  ridiculous  and  should  make  a  reasonably  intelligent 
man  who  reads  them  impatient. 

But  how  is  our  author  of  the  Dearborn  Independent 
articles  affected  by  these  Baron  Munchausen  tales  of  accom¬ 
plishment  or  proposed  accomplishments?  Of  course,  they 
accord  with  his  assumptions  that  the  international  Jewish 
bankers  control  the  purse  of  the  world  and  therefore  con¬ 
trol  the  economic  phenomena  and  suspend  the  operation  of 
economic  laws.  What  is  absurd  to  everyone  else  cannot, 
of  course,  be  absurd  to  him  in  view  of  the  fact  that  he 
makes  the  same  assumptions.  But  his  chief  reason  for 
deeming  these  protocols  a  real  emanation  from  a  Jewish 
Sanhedrin  sitting  somewhere  in  the  world  to  plot  the  sub¬ 
jection  of  the  world,  is  in  their  anticipation  of  what  has 
since  happened  in  the  great  war.  Let  us  examine  and  see 
how  wonderful  these  are.  These  protocols  are  supposed  to 
have  been  framed  about  1905  during  the  Russian- Japanese 


17 


war,  and  they  anticipate  a  world  war.  Such  a  prophecy 
was  not  unknown  at  that  day,  nor  was  it  unreasonable  to 
expect  it  in  view  of  the  conflicting  interests  of  the  great 
powers  and  the  enormous  armaments  they  were  preparing. 
Secondly,  he  points  with  eagerness  to  the  plan  to  increase 
the  price  of  wages  and  raise  the  hopes  of  the  laboring 
people,  then  to  increase  the  price  of  living  in  order  to  dash 
those  hopes  and  arouse  indignation  at  the  authorities  and 
cause  revolt  and  disorder  as  a  remarkable  identification  of 
the  plan  with  what  has  happened  during  and  since  the  war. 
To  his  mind,  it  apparently  indicates  that  these  things  were 
due  to  the  working  of  the  Sanhedrin  and  not  due  to  nat¬ 
ural  causes,  and  thus  he  would  prove  the  genuineness  and 
solid  importance  of  the  document  as  a  basis  of  proof  of 
the  conspiracy.  This  phenomenon  of  a  rise  in  wages  and 
an  accompanying  rise  in  prices  is  only  the  natural  course 
in  economic  law.  If  wages  go  up,  prices  must  go  up.  One 
is  a  natural  concomitant  of  the  other.  It  has  happened  in 
every  war,  and  it  needed  no  prophet  to  come  and  tell  us 
so.  Then  he  finds  in  the  cry  of  the  Socialists  and  Bol¬ 
shevists  there  shall  be  no  territorial  changes  by  the  war — 
a  proof  that  they  were  working  under  the  inspiration  and 
will  of  the  Inner  Circle  of  the  Jews  of  the  Protocol.  This 
is  certainly  a  far  cry  to  identification. 

B  UT  the  chief  reason  for  assuming  that  the  develop¬ 
ments  of  this  war  reveal  the  genuineness  of  the  Pro¬ 
tocols  and  the  plot  the  Inner  Circle  is  working  out,  is  the 
fact  that  there  are  some  Jews  in  the  leadership  of  Bol¬ 
shevism  in  Russia.  Here  we  have  in  fine  relief  the  iterated 
and  reiterated  assumption  that  if  there  be  a  single  Jew  in 
a  movement,  it  is  complete  evidence  of  his  control  of  that 
movement  and  of  his  control  of  that  movement  for  dis¬ 
tinctly  Jewish  purposes.  According  to  such  records  as  I 
have  had  access  to,  and  the  conclusions  of  Mr.  John  Spargo, 
who  has  devoted  himself  to  a  close  following  of  the  Bol¬ 
shevist  movement  in  Russia,  the  statement  that  Jews  control 
it  is  entirely  unwarranted.  There  are  Jews  in  the  Bol- 


18 


shevist  Cabinet,  there  are  Jews  in  some  important  offices, 
but  there  are  Jews  who  lead  the  opposing  party  of  Men- 
shiviki,  the  moderate  socialists,  and  there  are  Jews  who  are 
prominent  in  the  Cadet  movement,  a  third  party  of  consti¬ 
tutionalists.  In  a  country  where  Jews  were  subjected  to 
such  bitter  cruelty  and  oppression  as  in  Russia,  it  is  no 
wonder  that  they  become  anarchists  and  socialists,  and  took 
part  in  the  plans  for  assassination  and  were  made  martyrs 
to  the  cause  of  freedom  and  resistance  to  tyranny.  When 
the  revolution  arrived,  some  became  extremists  and  Bol¬ 
shevists,  others  moderate  socialists  and  others  conservative 
democrats  or  republicans,  and  divided  just  as  other  oppo¬ 
nents  of  absolutism  did.  More  than  this,  Bolshevism  is 
spread  by  a  propaganda  of  terrorism,  and  if  one  would 
escape  imprisonment  and  suffering,  it  is  wise  for  him  to 
embrace  Bolshevism  for  the  nonce,  and  this  is  what  former 
conservatives  and  Cadets  and  Menshiviki  have  done  and 
doubtless  among  them  are  Jews.  The  Bolshevist  Jews 
were  no  more  responsible  for  Bolshevism  than  the  others 
engaged  in  it.  Lenine  is  not  a  Jew,  but  Trotzky  is,  and 
the  facts  seem  to  show  that  the  Jews  among  the  commis¬ 
sions  in  actual  power  and  control  are  in  a  decided  minority. 
But  whether  they  are  or  not  is  not  important  in  the  con¬ 
sideration  of  the  issue  which  the  Dearborn  Independent 
insists  upon  making,  and  that  is  that  Bolshevism  is  only 
part  of  the  plot  of  the  Inner  Sanhedrin  of  Jews  to  disin¬ 
tegrate  governments  in  order  to  secure  the  despotism  of 
the  Inner  Council.  In  this  view  it  is  essential  to  establish 
that  Trotzky  and  his  fellow  Jews  who  are  Bolshevists  are 
Bolshevists  in  order  to  establish  the  autocracy  of  Judaism 
the  world  over.  There  is  not  the  slightest  evidence  that 
they  have  any  such  purpose,  or  that  they  are  under  the 
control  of  any  inner  circle  of  Jews.  Not  a  single  fact  is 
pointed  out  to  indicate  that  they  are  acting  under  some¬ 
body  else’s  direction  or  that  they  have  an  ultimate  object 
of  Judaism.  They  are  engaged  in  the  attack  upon  all  reli¬ 
gion.  They  flout  it. 

Does  the  author  of  these  articles  not  find  enough  in  the 


19 


history  of  Russia  and  abuses  of  the  autocracy  to  explain 
the  Revolution  and  the  subsequent  phases  of  it  without 
tracing  it  to  the  will  of  the  Sanhedrin  of  the  Wise  Men 
of  Zion?  In  what  way  was  that  will  manifested?  How 
was  it  made  effective?  Really  is  it  not  more  reasonable  to 
recognize  the  movement  to  anarchy  and  then  to  proletariat 
autocracy  as  due  to  the  violence  of  the  reaction  against 
Tsarism  and  its  abuses  than  to  attribute  it  to  the  machina¬ 
tions  of  an  invisible  Sanhedrin?  Why  look  for  causes  in 
the  sky  when  they  are  just  before  us?  The  reasoning  which 
would  make  the  fact  that  Jews  are  some  of  them  leaders 
among  the  Bolsheviki  proof  of  the  genuineness  of  the  Pro¬ 
tocols  and  a  step  in  carrying  out  the  conspiracy  therein  pro¬ 
jected,  is  as  faulty  as  that  which  convicted  innocent  women 
of  being  witches  in  the  seventeenth  century. 

WHAT  is  the  asserted  origin  of  these  protocols?  They 
are  produced  by  one  Sergus  Nilus,  a  man  who  was 
a  religious  fanatic  of  the  Russian  Church,  and  whose  whole 
nature  was  absorbed  in  the  identification  of  the  church  with 
the  autocracy  in  Russia  and  whose  religion  was  the  mainte¬ 
nance  of  the  divine  authority  of  the  Tsar.  He  was  a 
mystic,  and  he  was  contending  against  those  forces  which 
would  destroy  the  autocracy  of  the  Tsar  as  the  anti-Christ. 
Some  had  regarded  Free  Masonry  as  the  anti-Christ  because 
there  were  politics  in  the  Masonic  lodges  directed  against 
the  dynasty.  Others  like  Nilus  attributed  to  Jews  the  char¬ 
acter  of  anti-Christ.  He  said  he  obtained  the  protocols 
from  a  man  who  had  received  them  from  a  woman  in 
Asiatic  Russia,  who  had  obtained  them  in  secrecy,  and  that 
is  all  that  is  known  about  them.  They  are  not  signed ; 
they  are  not  even  given  the  title  “The  Wise  Men  of  Zion.” 
This  was  given  them  after  their  publication.  Nilus  was 
a  dreamer  and  fanatic.  He  could  himself  have  conceived 
in  his  dreams  of  such  a  wild  scheme  and  impossible  plot 
and  could  publish  it  for  the  purpose  of  arousing  indigna¬ 
tion  against  the  Jews  and  justifying  the  policy  of  cruelty 
toward  them  pursued  by  the  Russian  Tsar.  The  article  is 


20 


calculated  to  arouse  indignation  not  alone  against  the  Jews 
but  against  every  movement  to  unseat  the  Tsar  and  his 
power.  It  is  written  in  a  contemptuous  scorn  of  popular 
government.  The  protocols  were  written  by  a  man  who 
had  studied  the  defects  of  democracy  and  who  struggled 
to  emphasize  them  by  attributing  to  this  pseudo  wise  man 
of  Zion  the  purpose  to  use  demoralization  of  mob  rule  to 
achieve  autocracy  of  the  Jews.  That  these  protocols  might 
have  fooled  the  Russians  was  possible,  but  that  they  should 
be  honestly  taken  up  by  an  American  citizen,  with  ordinary 
intelligence,  and  offered  as  a  basis  for  insisting  that  there 
is  a  Jewish  question  among  us  that  needs  solution,  is  hard 
to  credit.  The  course  of  reasoning  by  which  Ignatius  Don¬ 
nelly  and  others  have  established  that  Bacon  wrote  Shakes¬ 
peare  by  the  internal  evidence  of  Shakespeare’s  plays  is  a 
monument  of  logic  as  compared  with  these.  The  Tales  of 
Baron  Munchausen  are  the  only  things  in  literature  that 
should  be  classed  with  these  protocols,  for  they  are  not 
more  preposterous.  It  is  appropriate  that  the  author  of 
these  Dearborn  Independent  articles  should  refer  with  a 
show  of  learning  to  the  fact  that  there  were  Princes  of  the 
House  of  Israel  who  continued  to  exercise  titular  author¬ 
ity  into  the  Middle  Ages  among  the  Jews,  and  should  sug¬ 
gest  that  the  descendant  of  such  exilarche  may  now  be  in 
the  keeping  of  this  Sanhedrin  and  ready  to  be  brought 
out  and  proclaimed  the  King  of  Israel  when  the  situation 
shall  be  ripe. 

I  HAVE  thus  considered  the  substance  of  the  indict¬ 
ment  of  the  Jews  by  the  Editor  of  the  Dearborn  Inde¬ 
pendent,  and  the  evidence,  or  lack  of  it,  upon  which  he 
bases  it.  I  have  not  gone  into  ,a  discussion  of  the  Jew 
as  a  man,  or  the  Jew  as  a  citizen.  In  an  address  delivered 
before  the  National  Geographical  Society  I  attempted  to 
trace  the  history  of  the  Jew,  and  to  show  the  effect  upon 
him  and  his  people  of  the  cruel  treatment  to  which  he  had 
been  subjected  for  eighteen  centuries.  I  pointed  out  the 
remarkable  qualities  of  the  race  and  the  wonderful  abil- 


21 


ities  in  many  lines  that  they  had  shown.  Wherever  they 
have  been  given  an  equal  chance,  the  best  of  them,  quite 
out  of  proportion  to  their  number,  have  forged  to  the  front 
and  became  leaders  in  the  fields  of  their  activities,  and 
prominent  in  the  countries  of  which  they  have  become  citi¬ 
zens.  It  is  charged  that  they  cannot  become  genuine  and 
sincere  citizens  of  any  country  because  they  are  themselves 
a  nation  in  dispersion,  and  that  to  that  nation  they  owe 
their  first  allegiance.  I  differ  entirely  with  this  view,  and 
it  has  been  refuted  by  the  conduct  of  the  Jews  in  many 
countries.  It  is  true  they  retain  an  allegiance  to  their  race 
and  to  their  faith  and  why  shouldn’t  they?  We  would  not 
value  them  if  they  did  not  do  so.  They  have  a  great  his¬ 
tory  to  look  back  to,  a  great  ancestry,  and  well  may  they 
be  proud  of  it.  But  while  they  are  proud  of  being"  Jews, 
while  most  of  them  adhere  to  the  ancient  faith,  what  incon¬ 
sistency  is  there  in  that  with  their  being  good  citizens  of 
the  country  in  which  they  are  born  and  live?  How  does  it 
detract  from  their  patriotism?  In  what  way  does  it  inter¬ 
fere  with  their  allegiance  to  this  government  when  that 
allegiance  calls  for  service  and  sacrifice?  They  did  their 
part  in  this  great  war  as  Frenchmen,  as  Englishmen,  as 
Americans.  Those  of  them  who  made  the  ultimate  sacrifice 
were  in  full  proportion  to  their  number  either  as  citizens 
or  as  soldiers.  The  exclusiveness  with  which  they  have 
been  charged  is  in  proportion  to  the  prejudice  exhibited 
against  them  and  their  fellows  in  any  community.  It  is 
a  measure  of  protection.  As  discrimination  against  them 
ceases,  as  equal  opportunity  makes  itself  felt  among  them, 
as  the  rewards  for  their  genius  and  patience  and  application 
come,  the  differences  between  them  and  other  people  disap¬ 
pear.  They  become  ingrained  Americans  with  us.  Their 
genius,  their  industry,  their  skill,  their  tenacity  of  purpose, 
their  enterprise  make  for  the  prosperity  of  the  community 
and  the  country,  and  there  is  no  good  object  in  which  they 
are  not  willing  to  do  their  part.  In  politics,  they  do  not  act 
as  a  body.  They  have  their  acute  differences  of  opinion 
as  other  people  have.  There  are  good  men  and  bad  men 


22 


among  them,  and  their  good  men  condemn  their  bad  men 
with  the  same  emphasis  that  good  men  of  other  religions 
and  races  among  us  do  theirs. 

There  is  not  the  slightest  ground  for  anti-Semitism  among 
us.  It  is  a  vicious  plant.  It  is  a  noxious  weed  that  should 
be  cut  out.  It  has  no  place  in  free  America,  and  the  men 
who  seek  to  introduce  it  should  be  condemned  by  public 
opinion. 


% 


23 


The  Anti-Defamation  League 
was  organized  by  the  Indepen¬ 
dent  Order  of  B’nai  B’rith  in 
1913  to  prevent  and  abate  the 
defamation  of  the  Jew  and 
ultimately  to  put  an  end  to 
unfair  discrimination  against 
all  citizens  of  our  land. 

The  following  Jewish  organiza¬ 
tions  are  officially  represented 
on  the  Governing  Board  of  the 
League:  The  Central  Confer¬ 
ence  of  American  Rabbis,  The 
Council  of  Jewish  Women ,  The 
Union  of  American  Hebrew 
Congregations  and  the  Zionist 
Organization. 


DS145  .T12 

Anti-Semitism  in  the  United  States. 

Princeton  Theological  Seminary-Speer  Library 


1  1012  00055  4735 


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